Soonerfan wrote:I have been homebrewing for years, went from extract brewer to all-grain. All you going all grain?I haven't had time to brew in a while but once you drink your own beer all others taste terrible.

Yes, I did finally make my first batch this weekend. I have been preparing for a while.

As chance would have it, of course the weekend I planned was scheduled for severe thunderstorms on Sunday, chance of scattered rain on Saturday.

Fuck. But goddamned if I was scrapping those plans, so I opted to go ahead on a late start Saturday.....and of course the severe thunderstorms showed up a few hours later.

So I brewed my first ever batch of beer, in the dark, in a thunderstorm. Finished about 1am.

Yes. We have the english ale and the stout still in the kegs. Next up will likely be an IPA but I'm not a hoppy guy. Much prefer lower IBUs and really my tatstes run hard toward the porters and stouts. Probably get started on the lagers/pils for summer drinking as well as maybe a Helles Bock.

Yes. We have the english ale and the stout still in the kegs. Next up will likely be an IPA but I'm not a hoppy guy. Much prefer lower IBUs and really my tatstes run hard toward the porters and stouts. Probably get started on the lagers/pils for summer drinking as well as maybe a Helles Bock.

I really love porters and like many stouts, but too many good summer beers to brew before they are out of season. I'm going to brew some Cherry Wheat for my wife this week, then next week a Wit, then hopefully by then I'll be ready to brew a Saison.......I'm pretty much set up, only thing I really need now is some good fermentation control, been trolling craigslist, a free fridge pops up every other week nearby, hoping to snag one, or pay $100 or less for one. That, some ferm wrap and a dual stage temp controller.

Enough so that kegs have been purchased and CO2 introduced to hasten the process.

Enough so that we purchased full kegs of Coors Light from a bar going out of business and didn't drink a drop of the stuff as it went down the drain and gave us two more kegs

Enough so that we have a nice Dry Irish Stout to go with a nice little English ale and a turtle that gives us perfect black and tans.

Enough so that I wear a scar or two on my leg from the old says of carrying volcan-hot pots that needed cooling.

Fresh hops, steeped grains, it keeps going and getting worse (or better-depends on if you ask me or my wife).

The kegs and the CO2 tanks were an absolute necessity. Cleaning and bottling became way too much of a hassle. We have a converted keg that we have used for our brew kettle and big ole Gatorage coolers for the mash tun.My buddy has gotten real good at re-using yeast.It's just great to brew and drink your own beer! Where are you all getting your grains? I go to place in Toledo called Titgemiers, it's a grain/landscape shop, in a terrible neighborhood of Toledo.

Soonerfan wrote:The kegs and the CO2 tanks were an absolute necessity. Cleaning and bottling became way too much of a hassle. We have a converted keg that we have used for our brew kettle and big ole Gatorage coolers for the mash tun.My buddy has gotten real good at re-using yeast.It's just great to brew and drink your own beer! Where are you all getting your grains? I go to place in Toledo called Titgemiers, it's a grain/landscape shop, in a terrible neighborhood of Toledo.

I'm using Brewmaster's Warehouse, are you purchasing in bulk?

They will mill it for you, and you can save whole recipes online and just purchase that recipe anytime you want.

Soonerfan wrote:The kegs and the CO2 tanks were an absolute necessity. Cleaning and bottling became way too much of a hassle. We have a converted keg that we have used for our brew kettle and big ole Gatorage coolers for the mash tun.My buddy has gotten real good at re-using yeast.It's just great to brew and drink your own beer! Where are you all getting your grains? I go to place in Toledo called Titgemiers, it's a grain/landscape shop, in a terrible neighborhood of Toledo.

The cleaning and bottling was easily the worst part of the deal. Although a good stout has a nice taste even while bottling. And the consistency of 10w-30

One of our buddies who prefers the drinking portion of making beer is a plumber. Very handy in the process. He got us, from a dairy farm, some ginormous aluminum feed trough for the cooling.

A lot of respect, Always wanted to do this. Love the show BrewMasters have you seen? All about Dog Fish Head and their process. Crazy to see what lengths they go to. Prob why that beers so dam expensive!

UnlikelyOptimist wrote:A lot of respect, Always wanted to do this. Love the show BrewMasters have you seen? All about Dog Fish Head and their process. Crazy to see what lengths they go to. Prob why that beers so dam expensive!